How many people get settlement, also called indefinite leave to remain, in the UK each year? Below are the Home Office’s own numbers from its Immigration System Statistics tables, published on 27 August 2026. They go up to the end of June 2026.
- 199,628 grants of settlement in the year ending June 2026. That is 24% more than the year before (161,585). Figures from January 2026 on are provisional.
- 146,119 grants in the 2025 calendar year, down 9% from 159,794 in 2024.
- 37,593 people settled through work routes in 2025, more than three times the 11,502 of 2017.
Grants of settlement per year, 2010 to 2025
2010 was far higher than any year since. The low point came in 2016 with 60,670 grants. Numbers have climbed most years after that, with 2024 the highest since 2011. The year to June 2026 is a different 12 months, so it is not in the chart, but at 199,628 it is above every calendar year from 2011 onwards.
Which routes people settle through
| Category | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work | 18,049 | 18,793 | 25,733 | 35,177 | 37,593 |
| Spouse or partner | 41,124 | 39,945 | 37,905 | 51,953 | 42,353 |
| Children | 3,915 | 8,713 | 1,936 | 2,416 | 4,027 |
| Other and unspecified dependants | 19,034 | 27,001 | 25,193 | 33,021 | 26,530 |
| Parents and grandparents | 185 | 287 | 309 | 446 | 406 |
| Refugee | 13,023 | 24,366 | 14,382 | 19,599 | 14,951 |
| Discretionary basis | 13,173 | 11,489 | 10,632 | 13,328 | 15,713 |
| Other | 513 | 672 | 2,382 | 3,854 | 4,546 |
| Total | 109,016 | 131,266 | 118,472 | 159,794 | 146,119 |
Partners of British or settled people were still the biggest single group in 2025. Work has grown every year since 2020, when 14,318 people settled that way. On a work route yourself? Our ILR date calculator shows when you can apply.
Top 10 nationalities in 2025
| Rank | Nationality | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 24,493 | 22,932 |
| 2 | Pakistan | 13,194 | 15,160 |
| 3 | Nigeria | 10,160 | 8,984 |
| 4 | Turkey | 8,740 | 6,375 |
| 5 | Iran | 6,538 | 7,991 |
| 6 | Philippines | 6,063 | 6,338 |
| 7 | China | 5,309 | 6,036 |
| 8 | United States | 4,261 | 5,490 |
| 9 | South Africa | 4,195 | 4,879 |
| 10 | Bangladesh | 3,745 | 4,103 |
India is far ahead, with nearly twice as many grants as Pakistan in second place. Nigeria is third. Turkey went from fifth in 2024 to fourth in 2025 after a rise of more than 2,300 grants.
Refusals
The Home Office refused 5,310 settlement applications made inside the UK in 2025, and 5,133 in the year ending June 2026. Only refusals of applications made inside the UK are counted, so these figures can’t simply be set against the grant totals.
What these numbers leave out
- The EU Settlement Scheme is counted separately and is not in these tables.
- Since May 2019, people given settlement on arrival with an immediate settlement visa are not included.
- The nationality table only lists the 20 nationalities with the most grants in 2025. We show the top 10.
- Data from the start of 2026 is provisional and the Home Office can still revise it.
Using these figures
You can use the numbers on this page in your own article, report or class. Please link to this page as the summary, and to the Home Office tables as the original data. We update the page after each new quarterly release.
Source: Home Office, Immigration System Statistics data tables, settlement summary tables for the year ending June 2026 (tables Se_01, Se_02 and Se_03), published 27 August 2026.
Last checked: 12 October 2026